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Commonwealth of Kaprisi
"Out here there is no law, this is where the sins of humanity run free. Far from the watchful eye of the GTU".- Caravan Leader The Commonwealth of Kaprisi is a highly autonomous mercantile client-state under nominal control of the Greater Terran Union, located in one of the key trading routes between the Commonwealth of Xana (and by extension, the Bright League) and the Stellar Axis. Despite its relatively young existence as a star-nation it quickly grew to become one of the galaxy’s most significant financial and economic powerhouses, as it hosted two of the strategic (and the only) L-Gates that were formerly under the control of the Florian Matriarchy, and its already pre-existing lucrative League-Axis trade routes. Despite this, it is effectively a state governed by some of the galaxy’s major mega-corporations, and despite boasting one of the highest per capita incomes in the galaxy, it has the most severe income inequality. History Foundation and Early History By the signing of the Treaty of Kaprisi between the Greater Terran Union and the Stellar Axis (represented by the Florian Matriarchy), the Florians were forced to surrender control of Kaprisi, its L-Gates and several other uninhabited star system occupied by the GTU during the war. In return, by the urging of Xana, Sophox and the Star Concord, the GTU were prevented from directly governing the area and instead only allowed it to set up a strictly democratic client-state in its place to prevent the GTU from gaining a foothold near the Bright League due to the lingering fear of the GTU’s incursion into that region of space. The GTU reluctantly agreed to the Treaty’s provision out of pragmatism, given the fact that the very notion of governing the area itself would've become an administrative nightmare, especially as it was too preoccupied with its post-war rebuilding effort. The idea of a budding democratic nation propped up by the Star Concord in all but name didn't escape the attention of many dissidents from the GTU and the feudalistic Stellar Axis, as many of the human’s republican dissenters and various Florian reformist clans quickly made the Commonwealth their new home. However, the Commonwealth soon found itself lacking in funding, as many of the monetary funding from the GTU was mostly funnelled into their intensive post-war rebuilding program. The Commonwealth, with tacit blessing from the GTU, quickly opened up their public funding to private investors, leading to a massive influx of capital necessary for the rebuilding of the Commonwealth. The Umbrella Corporations However, its aggressive economic plan did brought multiple unsavoury elements into the fold of the Commonwealth. A great many of the mega-corporate elements that investing for the development of the Commonwealth were of the one with less-than-stellar criminal record and has notable corruption scandals in the past, although it eventually ignored in favour of short-term economic gain. It is further exarbated by the nature of its government, which is largely inspired from the Star Concord haphazardly mixed with the extreme laissez-faire mindset of the old USA. Things took a turn for the worse, as many of these mega-corporation such as humans Rim System Inc., Florian’s Golden Flower Guilds and the Pux’s Anthalsee Corporation either funded or set up powerful political party to support their agenda, often at the expense of the other pro-republican parties that had to face an extreme financial disadvantages in the political stages. With the effective control of the majority of Commonwealth’s infrastructure is in their hand, these corporation and its respective political front soon formed a political coalition that won nearly entire of the seat of the Council in the first and perhaps the only fair election ever held in the Commonwealth, effectively transforming it from a budding democratic nation into one that effectively run by mega-corporations. The newly-christened Umbrella Corporations initially maintain a democratic front in the eyes of the galaxy, while at the same time using its mounting riches to earn the trust of the GTU, with its economic contribution constitute more than 15% of the GTU’s income (which is quite substantial given by the GTU’s vast economy), allowing these mega-corporations to gain something far more valuable than any money in the galaxy; their very own sovereignty, unbound from any law from any star nations of the Milky Way. The new Sodom The planet Kaprisi soon turned from a promising democratic paradise into a haven of inequality barely disguised as a laissez-faire states complete with all the worst aspect of capitalism imaginable, much to the shame of the Star Concord who practically responsible in propping up the foundation of the Commonwealth in the first place. Because of its far removed location compared to the rest of the GTU and its vassals, not even the GTU could curb its increasingly corrupt and disobedient vassal. Here, ordinary citizens could end up being killed for legal business contracts, and the Commonwealth become a haven of espionage so much to the point that the GTU’s powerful National Anti-Corruption Commission and its myriad of intelligence services were effectively powerless due to the continuous scheming of the mega-corporation. The resulting cashflow quickly began to enrich the Kaprisi even further, as many of its far-stretching fields, vast ocean and rolling hills were opened up for the property markets, often at the expense of the carefully tended ecosystem and many of its well-guarded local faunas that are once zealously guarded by the Florian to the point that its image of cities blended with nature are lost completely. Soon, the Kaprisi effectively become the one of the galaxy’s largest financial centres as well as one of the most famous resort world that caters the need of the richest and powerful figures from all known species, with casinos, markets, resorts, restaurants and bars that gave the planet an image of uncontrolled vice and worldly pleasures. However, these riches was built at the expense of its citizens. Many of the original Florian colonist, as well the Human, Op-Lek, Xana and Rogethauran citizens quickly found themselves at the bottom rung of the economic strata. Small landowner-colonist quickly found themselves having stripped of their land gradually via unequal legal law, and what little of the land they had left are now under the danger of being taken away from the ruling mega-corporations. The economic inequality are profoundly evident down to its crime activity across the Commonwealth, with many of the opulent districts having near-zero crime level compared to the rest of the nation, where smuggling, riots, drug abuse and ‘legal’ slavery were rampant in many of its major industrial heartland and the ordinary residential area. Exodus The resulting First Galactic War soon become the Commonwealth’s greatest downfall, as the GTU are unable (and completely unwilling) to reconquer its far-away vassal. With the inclusion of the Algorithm into the Stellar Axis and the resulting inclusion of its very own L-Gates for the invasion against the GTU, its value as an GTU’s strategic buffer zone are lost completely. Its ruling mega-corporations soon found itself lost many of its power and wealth as they are forced to flee from Kaprisi, unable to reclaim back their territories despite repeated request toward their GTU overlord to reclaim their long-lost nation. Today, the Commonwealth government-in-exiles are merely shadow of its past. The now-powerless corporations are entirely dependent on the goodwill of the GTU, and what left of the former Vol territories ‘leased’ by their overlord are merely a small collection of uninhabited planets and underdeveloped barren worlds, their previous reputation making it harder for it to garner potential investors to prevent eventual re-annexation by the GTU long after the war ends. Society Politics and Diplomacy The High Council serves as the governing unicameral body of the Commonwealth, comprising over eleven cabinet member that are presided over by the Supreme Chairman who are (theoretically) serving as the Commonwealth’s head of state. However, with the entire electoral process as well the High Council is controlled by the parties affiliated with the Umbrella Corporations cartel, all the position in the Council are also doubles as the CEO or lower high ranking member of the respective mega-corporations that are selected into the office. However, the ruling cartel is nothing but a collection of a one-and-a-half dozen of corporate interest that often clashes with one another and it is not surprising that backstabbing, assassination and scandals to be occurred within the Council in a regular basis. Nevertheless, the ruling cartel of mega-corporations are at least united enough when it comes in preserving their much coveted political independence in the galactic stage. Behind the closed door, the ruling mega-corporations had been vigorously playing off the Milky Way’s major power against one another. Furthermore, the Commonwealth has secretly signed numerous treaty with the Stellar Axis and the Bright League with the guarantee of independence should they allow either power to invade the GTU space in the event of war, in the violation of the Kaprisi Treaty where only the GTU and the Star Concord are allowed to do so. Furthermore, the Commonwealth had also been (at a time) secretly selling the GTU’s military technology to the other great power, and the Commonwealth continue do so long after these affair are revealed to their political overlord as a form of blackmail and defiance toward the GTU. The overconfident High Council even as far in allowing various intelligence body from every major power to covertly stationed their agent in Kaprisi while simultaneously undermined the GTU’s counter-intelligence effort in their space. It was these reason – or at least initially – that many major power (even the Star Concord, despite the urging of their citizens) often left the Kaprisi to their own device simply due to their sheer usefulness in the galactic stages. Ironically, it was this very act that led to the collapse of the Commonwealth during the War of the Five Front, to the point that it was the Kaprisi’s very own machination that led into this situation, allowing the GTU’s wartime enemies to infiltrate their overlord and making it possible to weaken the GTU during the First War. The overconfidence of their leadership had also led to the betrayal of various major power as the Commonwealth of Xana broke their secret treaty and swiftly occupies the whole Kaprisi’s territory, with the tacit approval of the major galactic federations that supposedly responsible to keeping the Commonwealth safe. Economy The Commonwealth of Kaprisi is practically an economic major power; its strategic position effectively made it a neutral ground that allowed unlimited trade between the GTU, Bright League and the Stellar Axis, and the monopoly of this three-way trade allowed Kaprisi to exercise soft power projection well beyond its small territories compared to the three superpower it had to dealt with. Despite its small size, the Commonwealth’s foreign direct investment on its neighbouring superpower and overlord allows it to exercise significant economic presence across the galaxy; It surpassed Star Concord as Xana’s largest trading partner and hold at least 25% of the export-import and FDI with the Florian’s recovering economy simultaneously. This unlimited riches in turn allows the Commonwealth to play the major power against one another. By working with the Xana and the Florians and secretly act against the GTU, it allows a delicate balance of power between these competing superpower, thus allows it to maintain its relative independence. As the Commonwealth is a client-states under the overlordship of GTU it is required to pay part of its income as tribute; at its highest point, the Kaprisi’s tribute alone comprised about 15% of GTU’s annual income – which accounts the galaxy’s highest, being the largest economy in the Milky Way – which is far beyond it is required to pay to the GTU and certainly the highest compared to the GTU’s other vassals (the combined post-Compact states could barely contribute 5% of GTU’s income). Nevertheless, the GTU – wary of the economic influence its troublesome vassal – are wise enough not to rely the Kaprisi as its metaphorical gold mine; by the time GTU’s economy recovered at its pre-war level, Kaprisi’s contribution are greatly reduced into 5% of GTU’s annual income. It is noted that apart from the open trade and tourism as its main income, the Commonwealth are also excelled in various heavy industries electronics, cyber-technology and shipbuilding due to its (initially) close relation with the GTU, allowing it to rise as one of the most technologically-advanced nation on the Milky Way in a short time. However, rather than keeping said advantage to itself, the Commonwealth intead opted to sell those restricted technology to the nations hostile toward the Terran states. This in turn brought a great ire of its overlord toward the Commonwealth, to the point that the GTU even as far as to deploy its notorious National Anti-Corruption Commission (which are regarded as the most efficient anti-corruption forces in the galaxy) and its foreign intelligence agency to combat these unrestricted illegal sales of its hard-earned technologies. Even with an extreme restriction in technological transfer being placed over the Commonwealth, it still managed to bring out many restricted technologies out from its overlord due to their efficient espionage network, although the GTU's rigorous intelligence agencies had greatly reduced the amount of technological apparatus the Commonwealth could smuggled out compared to the previous years. Military Kaprisi held a great importance for the Greater Terran Union due to its strategic possession of the L-Gates previously held by the Florians. This in turn allows the Kaprisi Armed Forces to possess some of the Union’s cutting edge military technology, albeit at a restricted manner as stipulated by the Treaty of Kaprisi. In turn, the Commonwealth possess a small, but sophisticated fleet not only to guard its border, but also theoretically capable in defending itself from external invasion in an even of war. Kaprisi in particular possess the Shield of Zeus, an orbital planetary defense network developed by the GTU, as well a series of well-defended garrison fortresses on every star system fully manned by the GTU’s Kaprisi Garrison Forces. Nevertheless, the Kaprisi Armed Forces are so notoriously corrupt and incompetent, to the point that despite the Kaprisi Garrison Forces greatest effort, the Commonwealth are easily overrun during the War of the Five Fronts in part of the KAF opted to flee from the Commonwealth entirely without the fight, leaving behind thousands of human POW to be left behind to their own devices. This blunder is the major reason (among many other) that made the GTU even more reluctant to restore the Commonwealth’s sovereignty, especially after the Terran state secretly agreed to surrender the former Kaprisi territories to the Xana. Addendum * Kaprisi’s political and economic relationship with the GTU could easily comparable with the Hong Kong’s relation with the People’s Republic of China. Its history however has more in common with the early British colonization of Australia, specifically the early colonization of the New South Wales Category:State